Thursday, December 12, 2013

Book Review - "George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution"

The following book review is a special for BlackFive readers provided by Elise Cooper. You can read all of our book reviews by clicking on the Books category on the far right sidebar.

A fascinating new best-selling book, George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved The American Revolution, by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager combines history, intrigue, and adventure. It is written in the format of a political thriller with a riveting and inspiring story. Six covert agents for the Continental Army displayed confidence, fearlessness, and leadership as they navigated through the Loyalists and British army to gain intelligence.

The six agents were Robert Townsend, a newspaper editor; Austin Roe, a bartender; Celeb Brewster, a longshoreman; Abraham Woodhull, who traveled to and from New York; James Rivington, who owned a coffeehouse; and a female socialite only known as Agent 355. It is unimaginable how these people sat behind enemy lines every day for four years, knowing they could suffer the same fate as Nathan Hale. Readers will be surprised to find out these true American heroes never wanted any credit, and only one actually met General George Washington.

A great quote in the beginning of the book, “Those men and women whose true identities are never revealed and whose stories have never been told, but who offer their service and their lives on behalf of their country. To each of them we owe an inexpressible debt.” Kilmeade told blackfive.net, “I wrote it thinking of today’s military and operatives. If you try to compliment them they always deflect to someone else. They just don’t want to take credit even though they deserve it. They do great things because they are on a mission for their country. This was similar to those spies in the Culper Ring. They risked their lives because they believed in a cause. They did it for their country and they didn’t want the praise, they didn’t want to get paid. I think that’s reflective of who we are as a country. Washington said, ‘never ask their names, I will never tell.’ But he kept their letters. That allowed us to piece the puzzle together.”

Besides these six Kilmeade shows Washington as a great General and strategist. He knew that the British could not be defeated with manpower, arms, or a show of force, but with a battle of wits. With this mindset, Washington decided to implement a network of spies, working together, to undermine the British war strategy in New York and Long Island. Washington was able to push these Agents to give more detail and timely information because he was able to assess their character. A book quote from a former British military officer shows the importance of these men and woman to the American Revolution, “The Americans did not outfight us, they out spied us.”

One of the most captivating parts of the book is the description of how the Culper Ring was able to prevent Benedict Arnold from handing over West Point to the British, and the ability of Agent 355 to determine that Arnold was a traitor. Kilmeade noted, “She laid the groundwork for Benedict Arnold’s being discovered as a spy. She was able to listen to the gossip in New York City. After Arnold was nearly captured the whole crew went into mourning because she was probably killed.”

Kilmeade also explains how the Culper Ring, the American intelligence officer, Benjamin Tallmadge, and General Washington used a pre-Morse Code, with numbers representing names and places, invisible ink, encryption, and dead drops to communicate. They would send innocuous letters, and on the back would be the important information written with invisible ink. What is incredible is that they were able to come up with these ideas during the war, without any prior espionage knowledge, and understood the necessity of keeping the dispatches from being discovered by the British.

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Book Review - "George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution"

The following book review is a special for BlackFive readers provided by Elise Cooper. You can read all of our book reviews by clicking on the Books category on the far right sidebar.

A fascinating new best-selling book, George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved The American Revolution, by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager combines history, intrigue, and adventure. It is written in the format of a political thriller with a riveting and inspiring story. Six covert agents for the Continental Army displayed confidence, fearlessness, and leadership as they navigated through the Loyalists and British army to gain intelligence.

The six agents were Robert Townsend, a newspaper editor; Austin Roe, a bartender; Celeb Brewster, a longshoreman; Abraham Woodhull, who traveled to and from New York; James Rivington, who owned a coffeehouse; and a female socialite only known as Agent 355. It is unimaginable how these people sat behind enemy lines every day for four years, knowing they could suffer the same fate as Nathan Hale. Readers will be surprised to find out these true American heroes never wanted any credit, and only one actually met General George Washington.

A great quote in the beginning of the book, “Those men and women whose true identities are never revealed and whose stories have never been told, but who offer their service and their lives on behalf of their country. To each of them we owe an inexpressible debt.” Kilmeade told blackfive.net, “I wrote it thinking of today’s military and operatives. If you try to compliment them they always deflect to someone else. They just don’t want to take credit even though they deserve it. They do great things because they are on a mission for their country. This was similar to those spies in the Culper Ring. They risked their lives because they believed in a cause. They did it for their country and they didn’t want the praise, they didn’t want to get paid. I think that’s reflective of who we are as a country. Washington said, ‘never ask their names, I will never tell.’ But he kept their letters. That allowed us to piece the puzzle together.”

Besides these six Kilmeade shows Washington as a great General and strategist. He knew that the British could not be defeated with manpower, arms, or a show of force, but with a battle of wits. With this mindset, Washington decided to implement a network of spies, working together, to undermine the British war strategy in New York and Long Island. Washington was able to push these Agents to give more detail and timely information because he was able to assess their character. A book quote from a former British military officer shows the importance of these men and woman to the American Revolution, “The Americans did not outfight us, they out spied us.”

One of the most captivating parts of the book is the description of how the Culper Ring was able to prevent Benedict Arnold from handing over West Point to the British, and the ability of Agent 355 to determine that Arnold was a traitor. Kilmeade noted, “She laid the groundwork for Benedict Arnold’s being discovered as a spy. She was able to listen to the gossip in New York City. After Arnold was nearly captured the whole crew went into mourning because she was probably killed.”

Kilmeade also explains how the Culper Ring, the American intelligence officer, Benjamin Tallmadge, and General Washington used a pre-Morse Code, with numbers representing names and places, invisible ink, encryption, and dead drops to communicate. They would send innocuous letters, and on the back would be the important information written with invisible ink. What is incredible is that they were able to come up with these ideas during the war, without any prior espionage knowledge, and understood the necessity of keeping the dispatches from being discovered by the British.

The Authors

Former Paratrooper and Army Officer, "Blackfive" started this blog upon learning of the valorous sacrifice of a friend that was not reported by the journalist whose life he saved. Email: blackfive AT gmail DOT com

Instapinch
Bill Paisley, otherwise known as Pinch, is a 22 year (ongoing) active and
reserve naval aviator. He blogs over at www.instapinch.com on a veritable
cornucopia of various and sundry items and will bring a tactical naval
aviator's perspective to Blackfive. Readers be warned: any comments of or
about the F-14 Tomcat will be reverential and spoken in low, hushed tones.
Email: wpaisley AT comcast DOT net

Mr. Wolf has over 26 years in the Army, Army NG, and USAR. He’s Airborne with 5 years as an NCO, before becoming an officer. Mr. Wolf has had 4 company commands. Signal Corp is his basic branch, and Public Affairs is his functional area. He recently served 22 straight months in Kuwait and Iraq, in Intel, PA, and senior staff of MNF-I. Mr. Wolf is now an IT executive. He is currently working on a book on media and the Iraq war. Functional gearhead.

In Iraq, he received the moniker of Mr. Wolf after the Harvey Kietel character in Pulp Fiction, when "challenges" arose, they called on Mr. Wolf...
Email: TheDOTMrDOTWolfAT gmail DOT com

Deebow is a Staff Sergeant and a Military Police Squad Leader in the Army National Guard. In a previous life, he served in the US Navy. He has over 19 years of experience in both the Maritime and Land Warfare; including deployments to Southwest Asia, Thailand, the South Pacific, South America and Egypt. He has served as a Military Police Team Leader and Protective Services Team Leader and he has served on assignments with the US State Department, US Air Force Security Police, US Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration. He recently spent time in Afghanistan working with, training and fighting alongside Afghan Soldiers and is now focused on putting his 4 year Political Science degree to work by writing about foreign policy, military security policy and politics.

McQ has 28 years active and reserve service. Retired. Infantry officer. Airborne and Ranger. Consider my 3 years with the 82nd as the most fun I ever had with my clothes on. Interests include military issues and policy and veteran's affairs.
Email: mcq51 -at - bellsouth -dot- net

Tantor is a former USAF navigator/weapon system officer (WSO) in F-4E Phantoms who served in the US, Asia, and Europe. He is now a curmudgeonly computer geek in Washington, DC, picking the taxpayers pocket. His avocations are current events, aviation, history, and conservative politics.

Twenty-three years of Active and Reserve service in the US Army in SF (18B), Infantry and SOF Signal jobs with operational deployments to Bosnia and Africa. Since retiring he's worked as Senior Defense Analyst on SOF and Irregular Warfare projects and currently ensconced in the emerging world of Cyberspace.

The Authors Emeritus

Major Pain --
A Marine who began his blog in Iraq and reflects back on what he learned there and in Afghanistan. To the point opinions, ideas and thoughts on military, political and the media from One Marine’s View.Email: onemarinesview AT yahoo DOT com

Uber Pig was an Infantryman from late 1991 until early 1996, serving with Second Ranger Battalion, I Corps, and then 25th Infantry Division. At the time, the Army discriminated against enlisted soldiers who wanted use the "Green to Gold" program to become officers, so he left to attend Stanford University. There, he became expert in detecting, avoiding, and surviving L-shaped ambushes, before dropping out to be as entrepreneurial as he could be. He is now the founder of a software startup serving the insurance and construction industries, and splits time between Lake Tahoe, Boonville, and San Francisco, CA.

Uber Pig writes for Blackfive a) because he's the proud brother of an enlisted Civil Affairs Reservist who currently serves in Iraq, b) because he looks unkindly on people who make it harder for the military in general, and for his brother in particular, to succeed at their missions and come home in victory, and c) because the Blackfive readers and commenters help keep him sane.

COB6 spent 24 years in the active duty Army that included 5 combat tours with service in the 1st Ranger Battalion and 1st Special Forces Group . COB6 was enlisted (E-7) and took the OCS route to a commission. COB6 retired a few years back as a field grade Infantry officer.
Currently COB6 has a son in the 82nd Airborne that just returned from his third tour and has a newly commissioned daughter in the 4th Infantry Division.